


Earth 4 - The Selfish Tony

by Cammerel



Series: Starker - Multiverse Shenanigans [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Dubious Consent, F/M, M/M, Multiverse, Not really rape, Sex doesn't HAPPEN between Tony and Pepper, but it gets close, it's fun but it IS dubious no doubt about that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-05
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-01-23 21:10:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21326734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cammerel/pseuds/Cammerel
Summary: “You’re free to try him on, see how he fits.”Tony blinks, shaking his head, “No thanks, I’m… I’m good.”“Suit yourself, could be fun - the three of us,” his other self says, leading Peter further into the room, “Why don’t you go warm up my bed, baby boy? I’ll be there in a minute.”
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker/Tony Stark, Tony Stark/Tony Stark
Series: Starker - Multiverse Shenanigans [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1456183
Comments: 16
Kudos: 100





	1. Chapter 1

There’s a lot he sees that he doesn’t want to see.

He finds a world where they’re together, but pizza doesn’t exist, for instance. That was one of the harder ones to accept (if he’s being honest). He had tried to explain the concept to them, but the more he got into it, the more disgusted they became.

There’s Earth 10, where Peter is the billionaire Iron Man of ‘Parker Industries’ and Tony is slinging webs in Queens, but the age difference is the same? It’s weird. Really cute, but weird.

On Earth 9, Peter had been hit by some kind of multiplier back in the past, and so there were… many Spider-Men. His other self didn’t have the heart to get rid of them, so he never fixed it. God, what a life. Tony still has a hard time wrapping his head around the whole thing.

There’s another further down the line - Earth 6 - where they actually have kids. Not like ‘adopted’. But actually /had/ the kids. He can’t explain it, but knowing that there were eggs involved… it still makes chills leak down his shoulders just to think about it. And maybe it makes him a little curious.

And yeah, they were all sort of little… spiderlings. Children that crawled on walls and had super strength.

They loved him. They probably imprinted on him in some way while he was there. Tony isn’t sure if that makes him an uncle or some sort of step-dad.

There was also something about seeing a slightly thicker Peter that did things to him.

Over the time he’s spent, he’s formed a lot of weird and unexpected kinks because of all of these Peters.

Regardless, he sees a lot of things that are unsettling, not all bad, but definitely unsettling. But they’re normally still together - or married, or engaged, or flirting and maybe making out on the side with the potential for more further down the line.

That is until he reaches Earth 4.

And boy, is Earth 4 a doozy.

He meets his other self first. He’s okay, not too bad on the eyes. He could use a haircut, but he still looks and acts like Tony Stark.

/Nice guy/, he thinks to himself. Bit of a douche haircut, and the only Tony Stark without his magnificent beard but /with/ the thickest pornstache this side of the galaxy, yeesh. But a seemingly nice guy…

“Two hours isn’t a bad cooldown,” his Earth 4 self says, checking out his tech, spreading out the blueprint to look at the finer details and writing a few suggestions down, “You can use my lab in the meantime, make any adjustments you want, it’s all at your disposal.”

Tony nods, standing up to take the paper from himself.

“Ah, Mr. Parker!”

He barely glances up as his doppelganger stands and makes his way to the door, “Always good to see you,” Tony’s eyes nearly pop out of skull when his doppelganger grabs Peter by the back of the neck, his other hand groping the young man’s backside through his jeans - Tony notes the unmistakable dip as he presses along the crease.

“Mr. S-Stark,” Peter says, causing Tony’s blood to run south, “There’s… another you…”

His other self looks at him and smiles wickedly, “Tony,” he motions, “This is Peter Parker, I’m sure you two know one another somewhere in your universe.”

Tony nods slowly.

“You’re free to try him on, see how he fits.”

Tony blinks, shaking his head, “No thanks, I’m… I’m good.”

“Suit yourself, could be fun - the three of us,” his other self says, leading Peter further into the room, “Why don’t you go warm up my bed, baby boy? I’ll be there in a minute.”

“Yes sir,” Peter nods, his gaze flickering over to Tony before he rushes past, eyes downcast.

Tony watches after him, then looks back to himself, “Quiet kid.”

“The way I like ‘em,” his other self says in a low growl, unbuttoning his jacket, “Go ahead and head down to the lab, you might not want a piece, but I’d like to get what I can while I can, gotta wet the whistle before the coach comes in, if you know what I mean. I’ll be down there in a bit.”

Tony nearly shudders in disgust and morbid fascination, but nods and stands instead, leaving the room and heading down to the lab as he wills himself /not/ to think of what’s happening in his /not/-his bedroom.

He starts sifting through some of the notes his other self had scribbled down. Some of it is good stuff, and now it looks like he’s got an adequate lab to make significant advances in his tech.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic series (which is over 44k) and anything I write like it are already posted elsewhere first and foremost. With at least 10+ Starker fics incoming over there, I figured I'd toss something up here for the time being, but updates will be slow as I have many other Starker WIPs and not a lot of real time.
> 
> For full releases at once, visit my Tumblr @Cammerel to find out more (speech bubble in the bottom right).


	2. Chapter 2

Buried in the work for nearly ten minutes and losing track of time quickly, he misses the sound of the lab door opening.

“Tony,” he hears from behind, barely glancing up when he burns his finger on the soldering iron.

“Ah!” he hisses as Pepper joins his side, reaching out to touch his shoulders.

“I thought you said you weren’t working in the lab today.”

“A slight change of plans,” he mutters as he feels her hands move along his back, one in his hair, “Got a few important things I… need to… work on… down here.”

Her other hand moves around to his front, touching his chest.

“Always working,” she breathes in his ear and his eyes close, “Always so busy, Tony. Maybe I can convince you to take your brilliant mind away from the lab for a few minutes, since you’re not so busy with paperwork like I thought you would be,” Pepper’s voice is low and heavy, raising the hair on his neck and arms.

Tony squeezes his eyes tight to the sound, desperate to vanish, or to have like a person-sized hellmouth swallow him from below. Oh god, this is like a bad nightmare.

“How about you make it up to me?”

Tony opens his mouth, his back still to her, “I… uh, and… how would you… propose that..?”

Her hand moves down low, lower, lowest!, palming the front of his pants! “How about we make another attempt at giving Morgan a little brother, hmm?” she suggests, and then adds, “I’m ovulating,” in a way that makes his heart race wild in his chest.

He shouldn’t be affected by her anymore. He isn’t, not really, not like that. She /had/ left him high and dry at the end of it all. But a proposition is a proposition and sometimes it’s difficult to say ‘no’ to Pepper Potts. Also, that caveman part of his brain that wants to spread his seed and hasn’t been allowed to just yet- and being around all the kids on Earth 6-

“But…” he swallows in confusion, “What about… Peter..?”

She lifts her brow and chuckles in confusion, “Your little mentee? What about him? Is he around today? I thought he had the weekends off.”

Tony frowns, “Peter-”

“Ah, Pep,” his other self says as he enters the lab, “I see you’ve found my other half.”

Pepper looks between them in confusion, eyes widening as she hurriedly steps away, “What? Who…?” she looks at the Tony at the door, “Tony! What did you do?”

“Nothing, actually.”

Tony speaks up for both of them, “I came into this universe, honest, he had nothing to do with it.”

His other self smiles and holds out his arms, “See? I didn’t do anything wrong,” he says as she hurries past him.

“God, I almost just had sex with someone that /isn’t/ my husband, and you have the nerve to think that you did nothing wrong!?” she asks, smacking him across the face and leaving, “I thought you got a haircut! I thought… ugh!”

Tony watches after her and stands as well, putting back on his portal watch, “Care to shed some light?”

His other self looks at him, touching his cheek faintly, “Oh come on, you can’t /both/ be mad at me at the same time. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I’m not that self-destructive,” Tony says firmly, “I’ve been many things, but I’m not the kind of man to cheat on my wife. If you don’t love her-”

“Relax,” his other self says, trying to calm him down, chuckling and appearing completely unphased by Tony’s anger, “I /do/ love her.”

“What?”

“I love Pepper,” he repeats, “Of course I do. We have a kid together, we’re happily married.”

“And Peter?”

His other self shrugs, “Is a nice piece of ass and /really/ good at giving head. I mean, when that kid commits, he really commits. No gag reflex, the most /beautiful/ eyes when they’re full of tears and his face is as red as a-”

“I thought you were together.”

“Are you kidding?” his other self asks, eyes wide, “The press would skin me alive if I had a hot little twink like him on my arm, sugar-daddying it up. They’d make a mockery of both of us. Poor Mr. Parker would be absolutely eaten alive by those vultures.”

“So you’re keeping it quiet for him?”

“Sure, yeah, just completely inconvenience myself for-of course /not/! Are you fucking kidding? He doesn’t mean anything to me. What matters is my wife and-”

“If they mattered to you at all, you wouldn’t be /fucking the intern/,” Tony says, raising his voice, “To, what did you call it? ‘Get what you can /while/ you can’?”

His other self crosses his arms, “Yeah? What are you, the ‘Good Tony’? Some kind of martyr out here, trying to shed light on the rest of us like you think you know what’s best? Some kind of Ghost of Christmas Future here to set me on the right path?”

“Maybe,” he shrugs, “Anything to make you realize what a complete piece of shit you’re being to two people who love you, and who /you/ love, or should love.”

“I also have a daughter-”

“Her being one of the two.”

“Yeah?”

Tony narrows his eyes, “Not Pepper. You love her, but not in that way and you know it. And here you are, cheating behind her back and lying so that you can have your fun and go home and play happy families whenever you feel up to it. It’s not fair to any of them. You asshole.”

“It’s just as much a game for him as it is for me, I assure you.”

“And /I/ assure you that it isn’t, and that he’s in love with you!” Tony shouts, “And if you had a single fucking functioning braincell in that thick-ass skull of yours, you’d admit that you feel the same way!”

“Uhm, Mr. Stark… Stark’s, sirs.”

They both turn to see Peter at the glass door for the lab, eyes wide, cheeks pink, hair a mess like he just had-

“Mr. Parker, you know better than to come in here when I’m busy.”

“I’m sorry, sir, it’s just-”

“Excuses are a waste of my time.”

Tony hits his other self in the back of the head, looking at Peter apologetically, “Ignore him, he’s an asshole. What’s going on, kiddo? How can I help?”

Peter ducks his head, “I-I’m sorry, sir… sir’s. I-it’s just that my aunt needs me-”

“Table it, I’ll get to you when I’ve got the time-”

“No,” Tony says firmly, glaring at himself, “/No/,” he says again and then looks to Peter, “Go ahead, kiddo, do what you gotta do.”

Peter looks unsure, glancing between them both as if waiting for permission from his lesser self.

Tony moves to the door, hands in his pockets, “Let’s go on a walk and let Mr. Selfish over here take a nice long look at his life priorities. I wanna talk to /you/,” he says, touching his index finger to the center of Peter’s chest and then motioning for him to follow, “Walk with me, Pete.”

Peter hesitates, but eventually /does/ follow him.

“Sorry if it’s rough in that room,” Tony apologizes to him, “The guy isn’t exactly easy to talk to, is he?”

Peter doesn’t say anything immediately.

“You can be honest with me, I’m not him.”

Peter sighs and nods, “Yeah, okay. He… it’s hard to talk to Mr. Stark.”

“You crushin’ on him pretty hard, kid?” Tony guesses, smiling knowingly when Peter tenses up, “It’s okay, he should know. He’s a genius, after all. And you’re not all that good at lying.”

“You’d be surprised.”

Tony stares at him, “No, I wouldn’t, /underoos/.”

Peter blinks, eyes widening, “How do you know-?”

“I know everything about this whole dog-and-pony show. What I don’t know is why he’s so completely toxic in comparison to any other Tony Stark I’ve met so far, and that's saying something,” Tony says honestly, “They come in all shapes and sizes, but he’s a real asshole.”

Peter nods silently, hands nervously fiddling as Tony leads him out of the building.

“How’s your aunt?”

The young man looks at him, “I… you know her?”

“Lovely woman, doesn’t cook too terribly, raised you as her own,” Tony lists off, “May’s great. Is she okay?”

Peter frowns, “She was in a bad accident last year.”

Tony tenses.

“Sometimes it’s difficult just doing things around the house,” Peter continues, eyes narrowing, “I do everything I can to help, but-”

“Moonlighting as Spider-Man while having an internship with Tony Stark takes up a lot of time,” Tony says and nods in understanding, “College?”

“I had to drop out, sir.”

“Ever thought of asking my other, less charming half for a leg up?”

Peter lifts a brow.

“He’s a good person, I promise,” Tony says and chuckles, “Underneath all of the anger and ego and resentment, he’s a great guy - he can be a great guy. Hey, you know what you should do?”

“Sir?” Peter asks curiously.

“You got two choices and neither of them are easy.”

Peter looks nervous as Tony leads him around the building, letting the young man determine their path. Somewhere around in one of these alleys is likely his spidey suit.

“You can leave him out to dry,” Tony offers, “That’s what my Peter’s currently doing to me. And, trust me, it’s effective - I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t bothering me. But I suppose I asked for it. You could do that, it would certainly get the point across. /Or/-...”

“Or?”

Tony shrugs, “You could show him who’s really the boss.”

Peter blinks in confusion, “I… I don’t understand. He’s my boss. He’s Tony Stark. He literally is /the/ boss. He’s a god-”

“Please don’t call him that, never call him that.”

“He’s still my boss.”

Tony smiles slowly, nods for a few seconds like he’s considering this new knowledge, then stops in the alley the kid’s lead him to, “Tony Stark should never be your boss, kid. Not only does he not like it, but it’s really stressful. You’re a good kid, you’re smart, with a good head on your shoulders. And Tony? Well, he likes to take orders.”

“I doubt it.”

Tony lifts his brows, “Hearing it from the horse’s mouth and still doubting me?”

“Yes… sir.”

“Look, kid,” he holds his arms out, “I’m a walking cliche. Daddy didn’t love me, I took it out on others, I have repressed feelings about men and instead choose to sleep with women, and I don’t like to share with the class. I hate having deep, emotional talks. So do /him/ a favor, and fuck him. Call him ‘sir’, call him ‘Mr. Stark’, but… you know, let him know who’s in charge.”

Peter sighs and finally seems to give in, “Alright, but if I do this and he fires me, that’s on you. And you’re paying me out because you have no idea what you’re asking me to do.”

“Done,” Tony agrees, smiling, “What do I get if I win?”

Peter shrugs, “The knowledge that you were right?”

“Fair enough.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic series (which is over 44k) and anything I write like it are already posted elsewhere first and foremost. With at least 10+ Starker fics incoming over there, I figured I'd toss something up here for the time being, but updates will be slow as I have many other Starker WIPs and not a lot of real time.
> 
> For full releases at once, visit my Tumblr @Cammerel to find out more (speech bubble in the bottom right).


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, life got BUSY there... @_@

Tony trusts Peter enough to take his advice.

There’s just one tiny problem.

He doesn’t really trust his other self to not completely fuck it up. Considering he’s done such a bad job of that himself, he doesn’t like the idea of leaving it to chance and risking Peter getting his heartbroken like Tony had done with his own.

He goes back into the building, back to the lab and his other self, and isn’t at all surprised to see him knee-deep in work already, and trying to bury his feelings.

“Did you fuck him?”

Tony lifts a brow, feeling a strange sense of deja vu, “Peter? This Peter? No.”

“But you have in the past, on your own planet,” his other self guesses, “Of course you have, he’s a nice piece of ass.”

“He’s not just a nice piece of ass,” Tony says, narrowing his eyes, “He’s smart and strong and an actual, genuinely good person. He has a good heart. And he’s the fucking love of your life so maybe treat him with just a little bit of respect, why don’t you?”

“No thanks,” his other self says, motioning inward, “I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I’m Tony Stark. I take what I want. In fact,” he gets up and moves over to Tony, “I can show you just how it’s done, seeing as you don’t seem to have any idea how this goes.”

Tony starts to ask exactly how he plans to do that when his other self grabs him by the back of his neck, hauls him in, and kisses him.

His hands fly up, pressing at his other self’s chest, mouth opening in protest before being filled with doppelganger tongue. He tries to extract himself, turning his head this and that way before finally lifting a fist, swinging, and hitting his other self hard in the jaw.

Hard enough to knock him off his feet.

“What the fuck?” the Tony from Earth 4 shouts in shock, rubbing his jaw, “What did you do that for?”

“I’m not here to let you walk all over me,” Tony says, wiping his mouth and stepping down on the other man’s stomach, kicking him in the jaw and, when he tries to get up, swiping a hand out from under him to make him fall flat against the hard, unforgiving floor of the lab once more.

Tony squats down over his other self, grabbing a handful of hair and yanking him back as he leans over him, his other self gasping in surprise.

“I’m /here/…” he breathes, “To show you how to behave properly, when in the presence of greatness.”

“You think /you’re/ greatness?”

Tony shakes his head subtly, “Not me. The kid.”

Other Tony groans weakly, “You don’t… know what you’re doing. You have no /idea/ who you’re messing with-”

“Oh, I know exactly what I’m doing and /exactly/ who I’m messing with,” Tony says and pulls his other self up on his knees, grabbing his chin and turning his head, “A big fat prick that needs his dick stepped on a few times.”

His other self starts to argue when Tony shoves his fingers in his mouth. He gags, but then his eyelids droop and he sucks at the two digits, thrusting his hips forward suddenly, surprising them both.

Tony chuckles and reaches down to help unbuckle his pants, pushing them down with his boxers but leaving himself fully dressed otherwise, “I promised Peter that you were going to be good for him. I promised him that. I won’t allow you to fuck up his one chance to fix your overly-inflated ego.”

Other Tony sobs around his fingers, sucking and licking between them.

“You’re gonna apologize to him, aren’t you?” he asks, voice weighted and teeth cutting against the shell of his ear, “You’re gonna be good and give Pepper and Peter the respect they deserve, /aren’t you/?”

He takes his fingers from his doppelganger’s mouth so he can speak, dull nails digging into his other self’s jaw as he holds him in place.

“Aren’t you!?”

“Yes,” his other self whimpers, “Fuck,” he gurgles, “Why do I /like/ this?”

Tony smiles and rocks the shape of his cock in his pants against the man beneath him, “Yeah, I was pretty confused at first myself. But the kid knows us best.”

“He… knew?”

“Yours does, now,” Tony grimaces, sliding his fingers between his other self’s ass cheeks and rubbing incessantly, “No, I learned this from /another/ Peter entirely. But they’re really never much different, not like us. All you gotta do is be good to him and he’ll give you everything you could ever dream of. Kid was made for you.”

“Mm, yeah?” his other self breathes out and shudders.

Tony nods, tightening the fist in his hair, “He’s good for you.”

He fishes a half-full bottle of lube from his double’s back pocket once he’s worked him open a bit, coating himself and watching as the other Tony turns into a whining, drooling mess on the lab floor.

The real payoff is when he slides his dick in to the hilt and feels the walls flutter around him, the broken sob coming from below when he draws back and slams in again, smacking his backside and growling out every humiliating thing he can think of.

He doesn’t go easy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic series (which is over 44k) and anything I write like it are already posted elsewhere first and foremost. With at least 10+ Starker fics incoming over there, I figured I'd toss something up here for the time being, but updates will be slow as I have many other Starker WIPs and not a lot of real time.
> 
> For full releases at once, visit my Tumblr @Cammerel to find out more (speech bubble in the bottom right).


	4. Chapter 4

Tony trusts Peter enough to take his advice.

There’s just one tiny problem.

He doesn’t really trust his other self to not completely fuck it up. Considering he’s done such a bad job of that himself, he doesn’t like the idea of leaving it to chance and risking Peter getting his heartbroken like Tony had done with his own.

He goes back into the building, back to the lab and his other self, and isn’t at all surprised to see him knee-deep in work already, and trying to bury his feelings.

“Did you fuck him?”

Tony lifts a brow, feeling a strange sense of deja vu, “Peter? This Peter? No.”

“But you have in the past, on your own planet,” his other self guesses, “Of course you have, he’s a nice piece of ass.”

“He’s not just a nice piece of ass,” Tony says, narrowing his eyes, “He’s smart and strong and an actual, genuinely good person. He has a good heart. And he’s the fucking love of your life so maybe treat him with just a little bit of respect, why don’t you?”

“No thanks,” his other self says, motioning inward, “I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I’m Tony Stark. I take what I want. In fact,” he gets up and moves over to Tony, “I can show you just how it’s done, seeing as you don’t seem to have any idea how this goes.”

Tony starts to ask exactly how he plans to do that when his other self grabs him by the back of his neck, hauls him in, and kisses him.

His hands fly up, pressing at his other self’s chest, mouth opening in protest before being filled with doppelganger tongue. He tries to extract himself, turning his head this and that way before finally lifting a fist, swinging, and hitting his other self hard in the jaw.

Hard enough to knock him off his feet.

“What the fuck?” the Tony from Earth 4 shouts in shock, rubbing his jaw, “What did you do that for?”

“I’m not here to let you walk all over me,” Tony says, wiping his mouth and stepping down on the other man’s stomach, kicking him in the jaw and, when he tries to get up, swiping a hand out from under him to make him fall flat against the hard, unforgiving floor of the lab once more.

Tony squats down over his other self, grabbing a handful of hair and yanking him back as he leans over him, his other self gasping in surprise.

“I’m /here/…” he breathes, “To show you how to behave properly, when in the presence of greatness.”

“You think /you’re/ greatness?”

Tony shakes his head subtly, “Not me. The kid.”

Other Tony groans weakly, “You don’t… know what you’re doing. You have no /idea/ who you’re messing with-”

“Oh, I know exactly what I’m doing and /exactly/ who I’m messing with,” Tony says and pulls his other self up on his knees, grabbing his chin and turning his head, “A big fat prick that needs his dick stepped on a few times.”

His other self starts to argue when Tony shoves his fingers in his mouth. He gags, but then his eyelids droop and he sucks at the two digits, thrusting his hips forward suddenly, surprising them both.

Tony chuckles and reaches down to help unbuckle his pants, pushing them down with his boxers but leaving himself fully dressed otherwise, “I promised Peter that you were going to be good for him. I promised him that. I won’t allow you to fuck up his one chance to fix your overly-inflated ego.”

Other Tony sobs around his fingers, sucking and licking between them.

“You’re gonna apologize to him, aren’t you?” he asks, voice weighted and teeth cutting against the shell of his ear, “You’re gonna be good and give Pepper and Peter the respect they deserve, /aren’t you/?”

He takes his fingers from his doppelganger’s mouth so he can speak, dull nails digging into his other self’s jaw as he holds him in place.

“Aren’t you!?”

“Yes,” his other self whimpers, “Fuck,” he gurgles, “Why do I /like/ this?”

Tony smiles and rocks the shape of his cock in his pants against the man beneath him, “Yeah, I was pretty confused at first myself. But the kid knows us best.”

“He… knew?”

“Yours does, now,” Tony grimaces, sliding his fingers between his other self’s ass cheeks and rubbing incessantly, “No, I learned this from /another/ Peter entirely. But they’re really never much different, not like us. All you gotta do is be good to him and he’ll give you everything you could ever dream of. Kid was made for you.”

“Mm, yeah?” his other self breathes out and shudders.

Tony nods, tightening the fist in his hair, “He’s good for you.”

He fishes a half-full bottle of lube from his double’s back pocket once he’s worked him open a bit, coating himself and watching as the other Tony turns into a whining, drooling mess on the lab floor.

The real payoff is when he slides his dick in to the hilt and feels the walls flutter around him, the broken sob coming from below when he draws back and slams in again, smacking his backside and growling out every humiliating thing he can think of.

He doesn’t go easy.

* * *

They get a little carried away in the lab, Tony isn’t proud of it.

He slumps on the couch next to his counterpart, hours afterwards, a bottle of water in hand and a wide grin on his face as he slowly sits back to look up.

“Why are you here?” his other self asks finally, still a little shaken from his revelations.

Tony glances at himself, “I guess I got tired of being a cavity and wanted to do some good in the world.”

“In /other/ worlds?”

Tony shrugs, “Yeah, something like that,” he smiles sadly, “I fucked up in my own time,” he rubs his temple, “It’s sort of a long story and I don’t want to relive it yet again.”

“Got it,” his other self says, taking a sip of his own water.

He can feel the tears just on the edge of his eyes, clears his throat to try and chase them off, then slowly looks over at the other man, “Do me a favor.”

“Another?”

They chuckle together.

Then Tony states his sobering request.

“Don’t mess it up with Peter,” he says softly, “I meant what I said. He’s a good person. I mean,” he holds his arm up, like gesturing to the general above, “Absolutely, one hundred percent pure. He’s so good… he got his powers and /never/ once thought to use them to his own advantage. Not once, not a single time.”

“You mean his super strength.”

Tony nods, “I thought you would know. Having sex with him-”

“Yeah, he’s not subtle.”

“He never uses it for personal gain,” Tony continues, “He never tried to play football, or advance in something he couldn’t do before. He helps old women cross the road and shit.”

“Shit… you’re not telling me that he’s Spider-Man, are you? Because that kid-”

“That’s /exactly/ what I’m telling you.”

His double curses again, shook.

Tony laughs, “He’s good, really good,” he feels the tears again. God, he’s been crying too much lately, “He’s so good. Don’t hurt him.”

“I won’t… anymore,” his other half says softly, touching his leg, “I promise, I’ll try.”

Tony snaps his head up and looks at him, “I swear, if you hurt one hair on his head, I’ll make you wish you had never been born.”

The other Tony’s eyes widen slightly but he doesn’t argue the point, or press it in any way.

Silence grows between them for so long that Tony almost starts to nod off.

To be fair, it’s been a long day.

“Is your Peter dead?”

He opens his eyes, looks at himself once more.

“It’s just… the way you talk about him,” his doppelganger tries to explain, “Like he’s dead. He didn’t kill himself, did he?”

“No, god no,” Tony shakes his head, “No. But I think I pretty much ruined every chance I had of making it right with him.”

“Don’t good people forgive?”

He continues shaking his head, “Not always,” he wets his lips, “Peter is… a very sensitive kid. And… I…” he wipes his face and looks away, “I don’t know, I think I might’ve broken him. He’s lost so much. His mom and dad, his uncle Ben. The only ones he had left were his aunt and me. And I… I pushed him away, I locked him out.”

“Fuck,” his other self says, finally sounding a little sympathetic.

“I knew I messed things up when he moved out of the Avengers base and started calling me ‘Iron Man’, of all things. He called me that for almost a year. Then it was ‘Mr. Stark’. And I like ‘Mr. Stark’... but the way he says it sometimes…”

“Makes you want to die?”

He nods, “I was in serious denial for a while there. And then some other Peter entered my life and decided to shake things up.”

“Like you did with me,” his other self laughs.

“Yeah,” he says honestly, shameless, “He rocked my world. After that, I tried to make it right with Peter.”

“Nothing?”

Tony sniffs and shrugs, chugging his water and tossing it halfway across the room, “He’s committed to someone else and it’s not me. I was given a gift, but I can’t seem to use it right. So, here I am, paying it forward.”

His doppelganger curses under his breath again and smiles, “Wanna get completely shit-face drunk?”

“Absolutely, one hundred percent, yes.”

“Good man.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic series (which is over 44k) and anything I write like it are already posted elsewhere first and foremost. With at least 10+ Starker fics incoming over there, I figured I'd toss something up here for the time being, but updates will be slow as I have many other Starker WIPs and not a lot of real time.
> 
> For full releases at once, visit my Tumblr @Cammerel to find out more (speech bubble in the bottom right).


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